People are measured by more than their partisan politics and on that score Jim Flaherty will be remembered as a “strong, tough character” with a huge personality and a zest for life.

Former finance minister Jim Flaherty died suddenly on April 10, 2014, at the age of 64.

Published on Thu Apr 10 2014

The tributes for Jim Flaherty that flowed on Parliament Hill at the news of his sudden death were generous and genuine. He was a cheerful Conservative warrior with a big laugh, a bigger heart, the ability to rise above blinkered partisanship and a rare ability to connect with people.

Even his political rivals felt a pang at the sad news that he had succumbed Thursday to a heart attack just weeks after bowing out as Canada’s finance minister after eight gruelling years on the job.

As Prime Minister Stephen Harper put it in his own brief but heartfelt tribute to a “colleague, partner and friend,” Flaherty commanded “great respect and affection” across the political divides from the days he served as a minister in former Ontario premier Mike Harris’s right-wing government. In a fitting show of that respect, Parliament suspended its work on news of his passing.

During his time in Ottawa as Harper’s right-hand man and the MP for Whitby-Oshawa, Flaherty steered the Canadian economy through the Great Recession of 2008-2009 with a steady hand.

Slow as he was to acknowledge the growing storm clouds and ideologically averse as he was to deficit spending, Flaherty proved to be a consummate pragmatist, eventually pouring $47 billion into stimulus to avert another Great Depression. As the Star noted when he stepped down, that will be remembered as his biggest and best legacy. It preserved the core economic strength that Liberals Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin had worked hard to generate. On his watch Canada weathered the storm better than most countries. And he will be remembered as well for introducing a savings plan to help people with disabilities and their families.

Canadians recognized and respected him for the workhorse he was, stubbornly battling a debilitating disease even as he hacked away at the federal deficit to generate the surplus that may allow Harper and the party to dole out tax breaks in the next federal election. His tenacity and loyalty kept him going longer than others might have.

True to the Harper government’s ideological instinct to cut Ottawa down to size by “starving the beast,” Flaherty implemented a range of policies that hobbled the government’s influence. He cut the goods and services tax, slashed corporate taxes to record levels and boasted of cutting other taxes 160 times. For a man who abolished the penny, he seemed to count every last one. Today federal revenues are at the lowest level in a half-century.

While Conservatives see that as reason to cheer, the burden of tax- and deficit-cutting fell heavily on a nation struggling with less than optimal growth, painfully slow job creation, anemic business investment and unmet social needs. Canadians deserve a government that aims higher.

Still, people are measured by more than their partisan politics and on that score Jim Flaherty will be remembered as a “strong, tough character,” in New Democrat Leader Tom Mulcair’s words, with a huge personality, few pretensions, a self-deprecating sense of humour and a zest for life. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau paid tribute to his “strong social conscience” and sense of public service. His family knows his devotion. His friends will never forget his loyalty. His adversaries value the respect he gave them.

Parliament is diminished by his passing.

Canadians have lost a decent, gifted politician who brought talent, tenacity and energy to the service of his country and his convictions.